Sonya Bennett-Brandt

Berkeley, San Francisco

Freelance Journalist at Freelance

Freelance writer and communications professional interested in climate, environment, and conservation. 👽

Featured in: Favicon

eastbayexpress.com Favicon

metrosiliconvalley.com Favicon

theguardian.com Favicon

wired.com

podchaser.com Favicon

baynature.org Favicon

beamstart.com Favicon

technewstube.com Favicon

kneedeeptimes.org Favicon

afar.com

Articles

Who Gets to Decide What Names Go on Digital Maps?

3 days ago | afar.com | Sonya Bennett-Brandt

A few days into a trip in Iceland, I was trying to find a hot spring—but not the kind with a paved parking lot or an infinity-pool edge. I wanted steam, stone, and silence. So I opened Google Maps and did something mildly perverse: I searched for the worst-reviewed spring I could find. After a grueling scroll, I fished up a promising 3.7-star holder, with three ratings and two reviews. “Hard to find,” said one. “Some industrial geothermal boreholes nearby,” noted the other. Sold.
Yosemite Trails, Marin Roads, SF Ballpark Test Adaptation Limits – KneeDeep Times

2 months ago | kneedeeptimes.org | Sonya Bennett-Brandt

A Mission Rock parking lot has recently metamorphosed into one of San Francisco’s newest urban green spaces: China Basin Park, five acres on the waterfront with a view across Mission Bay to Oracle Park, a big lawn, access to shoreline lands, and stormwater garden, all rimmed by the Bay Trail.
What Exactly is a “Supercharged Wind Event?”

Feb 12, 2025 | kneedeeptimes.org | Sonya Bennett-Brandt

In headlines about wildfire, a new supervillain emerges: wind. In January, it became the LA fires’ manic henchman, feeding it oxygen, sucking the moisture out of vegetation, and scooping up embers and throwing them miles away to seed new blazes that were impossible to predict. This was no ordinary wind: it was “supercharged,” characterized by gusts exceeding 90 mph. What, exactly, is a “supercharged wind event”?
UC Berkeley’s COF-999 is Advancing Carbon Capture Tech

Jan 15, 2025 | kneedeeptimes.org | Sonya Bennett-Brandt

Zhou designed COF-999 to be stronger, stabler, and longer-lasting. The structure is studded with amines (NH2 groups), then flushed with more amines that form short amine polymers. As air passes through these structures, the CO₂ molecules bind to the amines. Unlike past direct air capture technologies, COF-999 actually works better in the presence of moisture. “I think the exciting part was when I said to Zihui, ‘Why don’t we just pipe in Berkeley air and see if it takes up the CO₂?’” says Yaghi.
What Lies Beneath

Jan 14, 2025 | baynature.org | Sonya Bennett-Brandt

In the shallows of south Lake Tahoe, diver Brandon Berry is slurping up clouds of algae with an underwater vacuum cleaner. Snorkeling above, I can hear his Darth Vader breaths better than I can see him—both researcher and lake bed are shrouded in a green muzz of metaphyton. The filamentous, cotton-candy-like algae is a persistent affliction here, where it intermittently grows, dies, washes up on the shoreline, and rots in unsightly, smelly piles.
Oakland-Alameda Adaptation Committee Drafts Sea Level Rise Plans

Dec 18, 2024 | kneedeeptimes.org | Sonya Bennett-Brandt

In a set of two online workshops in early December, the Oakland Alameda Adaptation Committee laid out draft plans and design possibilities for adapting Bay Farm Island and the Oakland-Alameda estuary to sea level rise. Alameda — coastal, low-lying, and built on fill — is vulnerable to flooding from multiple sources, including flooding from the Bay, rising groundwater, and increased rainfall.
Does San Francisco Have a Hidden Wildfire Risk?

Nov 13, 2024 | kneedeeptimes.org | Sonya Bennett-Brandt

Disaster movies have staged San Francisco as the site of many a catastrophe – earthquakes, tsunamis, an intelligent ape uprising. But wildfire? It’s hard to picture. Even as red flag warnings go into effect throughout the Bay Area, wildfires feel like a problem for rural neighborhoods, or East Bay communities deep in the hills — not the shiny, urbanized landscape of San Francisco.
Feds Address 80-Year-Old Problem

Nov 13, 2024 | kneedeeptimes.org | Sonya Bennett-Brandt

In Marin City, floodwaters have been a chronic reminder of the community’s long-standing neglect — but a federal project could finally break that cycle. Marin City was selected to be one of 12 communities across the country who will participate in a Congressional Pilot Program led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, for which the federal government will cover 100% of the cost of a flood-reduction project in Marin, up to $13.5 million.
Fitness empowered by the impossible

Nov 5, 2024 | eastbayexpress.com | Sonya Bennett-Brandt

Drago Nesa, entrepreneur, international circus performer and longest-body-burn-while-hanging-from-their-teeth world record holder, teaches aerial silks at SkyHigh Odditorium, a Richmond-based aerial arts and acrobatics school where strength training and choreography fuse in midair. “When you do aerial,” she said, “you’re doing something that you think is impossible.
Country Line Dancing Rules East Bay Nightclub

Jun 11, 2024 | eastbayexpress.com | Sonya Bennett-Brandt

Mavericks Country Bar and Nightclub in Pleasanton, with its mechanical bull, deer-antler chandelier, and clientele in cowboy hats and leather inlay boots, has a country-western flair that’s hard to find in the Bay Area. Every Friday and Saturday night the building almost overflows with its weekly line-dancing events, where bargoers of all ages and skill levels jump on the dance floor and kick-step, stomp and scoot across the dance floor in unison.